Daily News  :: North Africa

TAIPEI - Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC), Taiwan's state run oil company, says it will invest $39mn over the next three years to explore an oil field located in southern Libya.

"After more than six months of efforts amid fierce competition, CPC has won a bid for exploration in the southern Murzuq 162 oil field," a CPC spokeswoman said.

The Murzuq field is estimated to have some 500 million barrels in reserves, the spokeswoman said.

She said CPC will set up a subsidiary in Libya for future exploration.

The company is scheduled to sign an agreement with Libya's National Oil Co. in mid-January of 2007 to finalise the project, the spokeswoman added.

Sapa-AFP